Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

By Benjamin Franklin

Page 84

against the unremitting attraction of ancienthabits, and the force of perpetual temptations. This being acquir'dand establish'd, Silence would be more easy; and my desire being togain knowledge at the same time that I improv'd in virtue, andconsidering that in conversation it was obtain'd rather by the use ofthe ears than of the tongue, and therefore wishing to break a habit Iwas getting into of prattling, punning, and joking, which only made meacceptable to trifling company, I gave _Silence_ the second place.This and the next, _Order_, I expected would allow me more time forattending to my project and my studies. _Resolution_, once becomehabitual, would keep me firm in my endeavours to obtain all thesubsequent virtues; _Frugality_ and Industry freeing me from myremaining debt, and producing affluence and independence, would makemore easy the practice of Sincerity and Justice, etc., etc. Conceivingthen, that, agreeably to the advice of Pythagoras[67] in his GoldenVerses, daily examination would be necessary, I contrived thefollowing method for conducting that examination.

I made a little book, in which I allotted a page for each of thevirtues.[68] I rul'd each page with red ink, so as to have sevencolumns, one for each day of the week, marking each column with aletter for the day. I cross'd these columns with thirteen red lines,marking the beginning of each line with the first letter of one of thevirtues, on which line, and in its proper column, I might mark, by alittle black spot, every fault I found upon examination to have beencommitted respecting that virtue upon that day.

[67] A famous Greek philosopher, who lived about 582-500 B. C. The _Golden Verses_ here ascribed to him are probably of later origin. "The time which he recommends for this work is about even or bed-time, that we may conclude the action of the day with the judgment of conscience, making the examination of our conversation an evening song to God."

[68] This "little book" is dated July 1, 1733.--W. T. F.

_Form of the pages._

TEMPERANCE.

EAT NOT TO DULLNESS.DRINK NOT TO ELEVATION.+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+| TEMPERANCE. |+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+| EAT NOT TO DULLNESS.

allowing (for the reasons before given, s 8, 9, 10,) that there is
no more electrical fire in a bottle after charging, than before, how great
must be the quantity in this small portion of glass! It seems as if it were
of its very substance and essence.

When there is great heat on the land, in a particular region (the sun
having shone on it perhaps several days, while the surrounding countries
have been screen'd by clouds) the lower air is rarified and rises, the
cooler denser air above descends; the clouds in that air meet from all
sides, and join over the heated place; and if some are electrified, others
not, lightning and thunder succeed, and showers fall.

'Tis supposed they form triangles,
whose sides shorten as their number increases; 'till the common matter has
drawn in so many, that its whole power of compressing those triangles by
attraction, is equal to their whole power of expanding themselves by
repulsion; and then will such piece of matter receive no more.

The circumstances of the breaking of the glass differ much in making
the experiment, and sometimes it does not break at all: but this is
constant, that the stains in the upper and under pieces are exact
counterparts of each other.

Now the globe being turn'd, could draw no fire from the floor through the
machine, the communication that way being cut off by the thick glass plate
under the cushion: it must then draw it through the chains whose ends were
dipt in the oil of turpentine.

a strong purgative liquid, and then charged
the phial, and took repeated shocks from it, in which case every particle
of the electrical fluid must, before it went through my body, have first
gone through the liquid when the phial is charging, and returned through it
when discharging, yet no other effect followed than if it had been charged
with water.